National Liberation Front of Corsica
Encyclopedia
The National Liberation Front of Corsica is a militant group that advocates an independent
state on the island
of Corsica
, separate from France
. They also want all currently imprisoned members of the FLNC in France to be put into Corsican prison
s. The organisation's presence is primarily in Corsica and less so on the French mainland. Conculta Naziunalista is often considered to be the political wing of the organisation.
Typical militant acts by the FLNC are bombings, aggravated assault, armed bank robbery
and extortion
through ‘revolution
ary tax
es’, and are mostly aimed at public buildings, banks, touristic infrastructure
, military
buildings and other symbols of French control. Usually the attack is against buildings and infrastructure and not against persons. The overwhelming majority of their attacks on the French mainland take place in or around the cities of Nice
, Marseilles and Avignon
.
n armed organizations. It is an off-shoot of the political party
A Cuncolta Independentista which has members in the Corsican Assembly
and some support with the Corsican people.
The FLNC carried out its first attacks on the night of 4 May 1976 with 21 bombs exploding in Ajaccio
, Bastia
, Sartene
, Porto Vecchio and other towns. The majority of the targets were public buildings and the offices of estate agents. On 5 May the FLNC formally announced its existence when it issued a bilingual manifesto which also claimed responsibility for the previous night's attacks.
The manifesto contained six demands:
Following its opening salvo on 4 May, the FLNC launched another heavy series of bomb attacks across the island on 20 May. The series of attacks and the emergence of the FLNC coincided with the trial of ten members of the recently outlawed Action Régionaliste Corse. The prosecutors claimed that the men had been involved in the shooting dead of two French police officers that summer. During the summer the FLNC became more active and on the night of 17 July it carried out a fresh wave of attacks which included a rocket and mortar attack on the gendarmerie in Aghione
which employed the use of an American M79 grenade launcher
. This increased speculation that the FLNC were being supplied by Libya
, who were at the time supplying other revolutionary groups in Europe, including the Provisional IRA. By September 1976 the FLNC were attempting assassinations of high-ranking French military officials. In separate incidents in the town of Corte
, a General narrowly missed assassination when his car was riddled with bullets; his driver lost an ear in the attack. Meanwhile the home of another senior officer in the town was targeted in a bomb attack.
The beginning of 1977 saw little FLNC activity. In April there were a number of attacks on premises associated with Corsican nationalists and the FLNC. The attacks were claimed by a new group calling itself FRANCIA (Front d'Action Nouvelle Contre l'Indépendance et l'Autonomie). Although other anti-autonomist groups existed in Corsica, FRANCIA appeared to be the only group capable of carrying out attacks. On 14 May the group destroyed the printing presses of Arritti (A Corsican nationalist publication) in a bomb attack. The FLNC responded to the attacks by carrying out a daring raid on Fort-Lacroix, near Bastia on 24 May and at the beginning of June they destroyed a large section of Bastia railway station in a bomb attack; a month later the FLNC launched an overnight bomb offensive hitting 27 pro-French targets followed by the bombing of the television relay station at Serra di Pigno
.
The FLNC suffered a serious setback in May 1978 when 27 suspected members were arrested both in Corsica and France. The police stumbled upon an FLNC weapons-dump in the town of Cardo
during an investigation into an ordinary burglary. While at the scene the police noticed men nearby moving what looked like weapons. The incident resulted in over 300 people being questioned and over 60 detained by the authorities. Other suspects were picked up in Paris
, Nice
and Lyon
s. In December 1978 the FLNC increased its attacks on police barracks – in one incident the gendarmerie at Borgo
was raked with heavy machine gun fire – resulting in a fear that the FLNC would now begin to concentrate its attacks on people as well as material targets. At this time the FLNC also began to demand that their prisoners be treated as political prisoner
s.
The 1980s also saw FLNC supporters becoming more visible in terms of protests and political activity. The FLNC continued to call for their prisoners to be given political status. Mass demonstrations in support of political status for Corsican prisoners were common and FLNC supporters were active in all protests which could be classified as "Corsican V French". In November 1980, 12 FLNC prisoners in Paris went on hunger-strike in a protest against the inequality of treatment for Corsican nationalist prisoners. This protest overlapped with that of six IRA hungerstrikers in Northern Ireland
. The Corsican prisoners were force-fed for a number of weeks before they ended their strike. On 1 April 1981 the FLNC called a ceasefire for the duration of the Presidential Elections and following the victory of François Mitterrand
, announced they would extend the ceasefire to "see how things develop".
On 18 September the FLNC announced the end of its ceasefire at a press conference held in the mountains of central Corsica. They condemned the autonomists for attempting to use the "usual useless channels" of the political system and opposed French "appeasement policies" before stating that the armed struggle would resume and that the FLNC would not lay down its arms.
On 19 August 1982 the FLNC launched its most spectacular night of violence with the so called "violente nuit bleue" during which 99 attacks were carried out against government targets.
In the mid-80s the organisation also stepped up its attacks against suspected drug dealers, killing four in the space of twelve months in 1986.
In 1988 a truce was agreed between the French and the FLNC. However, the ceasefire did not sit well with certain members of the organisation, resulting in a split within the movement.
1991 saw one of the first shootouts between the FLNC and military gendarmes when an FLNC commando managed to shoot its way out of an ambush and escape. 1991 also saw the FLNC carry out an attack against a refinery
on the neighbouring island of Sardinia
.
In December 1996 the FLNC began a Christmas offensive across Corsica. In Figari
the FLNC launched a machine-gun attack on a military barracks while in Zicavo
a grenade attack was carried out on the Police Station.
In 1997 the FLNC Canal-Habituel faction called a ceasefire which resulted in the Canal Historique faction attempting to take control of the organisation and launch a fresh offensive. In 1998 FLNC attacks soared with policemen and mayors among the dead. The offensive culminated in the assassination of Claude Érignac
in Ajaccio. Érignac was the French Prefect
for Corsica and the top representative of the French Republic on the island. The attack was highly publicized and criticized so strongly that the FLNC were forced to deny that they were responsible. Since 1999, splits, internal feuding, ceasefires and breaches of ceasefires have characterized the FLNC.
which injured a number of gendarmes, bomb attacks against a number of hotels in Marseille
in 2004 and rocket attacks against a number of barracks in 2007.
In 2009 it carried out a car bomb attack against a barracks in Vescovato
. The FLNC also claimed that all the different factions had reunified. During the early 2000s the FLNC had been divided into the FLNC-UC, the FLNC-1976, and the FLNC-October 22.
Independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....
state on the island
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
of Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
, separate from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. They also want all currently imprisoned members of the FLNC in France to be put into Corsican prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
s. The organisation's presence is primarily in Corsica and less so on the French mainland. Conculta Naziunalista is often considered to be the political wing of the organisation.
Typical militant acts by the FLNC are bombings, aggravated assault, armed bank robbery
Bank robbery
Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...
and extortion
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
through ‘revolution
Revolution
A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
ary tax
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
es’, and are mostly aimed at public buildings, banks, touristic infrastructure
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
, military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
buildings and other symbols of French control. Usually the attack is against buildings and infrastructure and not against persons. The overwhelming majority of their attacks on the French mainland take place in or around the cities of Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
, Marseilles and Avignon
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...
.
Foundation and objectives
The FLNC was created from a merger of Ghjustizia Paolina and the Fronte Paesanu Corsu di Liberazione, the two largest CorsicaCorsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
n armed organizations. It is an off-shoot of the political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
A Cuncolta Independentista which has members in the Corsican Assembly
Corsican Assembly
The Corsican Assembly is the unicameral legislative body of the territorial collectivity of Corsica. It has its seat at the Grand Hôtel d'Ajaccio et Continental, in the Corsican capital of Ajaccio.-History:...
and some support with the Corsican people.
The FLNC carried out its first attacks on the night of 4 May 1976 with 21 bombs exploding in Ajaccio
Ajaccio
Ajaccio , is a commune on the island of Corsica in France. It is the capital and largest city of the region of Corsica and the prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud....
, Bastia
Bastia
Bastia is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It is also the second-largest city in Corsica after Ajaccio and the capital of the department....
, Sartene
Sartène
Sartène , is a commune in the Corse-du-Sud department of France on the island of Corsica.Its history dates back to medieval times and granite buildings from the early 16th century still line some of the streets. One of the main incidents in the town's history was an attack by pirates from Algiers...
, Porto Vecchio and other towns. The majority of the targets were public buildings and the offices of estate agents. On 5 May the FLNC formally announced its existence when it issued a bilingual manifesto which also claimed responsibility for the previous night's attacks.
The manifesto contained six demands:
- The recognition of the National Right of the Corsican people.
- The removal of all instruments of French colonialismColonialismColonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
– including the French ArmyFrench ArmyThe French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
and the colonists. - The setting up of a popular democratic government which would express the will and the needs of the Corsican people.
- The confiscation of colonial estates.
- Agrarian reform to fulfill the aspirations of farmers, workers and intellectuals and rid the country of all forms of exploitation.
- The right to self-determination of the Corsican people.
1970s – "Drawing Attention to Corsica"
Aghione
Aghione is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica.-Geography:Aghion is located on the eastern plains, west of Aleria. The municipality is watered by the Tagnon, a tributary of Tavignano, which separates an area of hills to the north and a plain, most important...
which employed the use of an American M79 grenade launcher
M79 grenade launcher
The M79 grenade launcher is a single-shot, shoulder-fired, break-action grenade launcher that fires a 40x46mm grenade which used what the US Army called the High-Low Propulsion System to keep recoil forces low, and first appeared during the Vietnam War...
. This increased speculation that the FLNC were being supplied by Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
, who were at the time supplying other revolutionary groups in Europe, including the Provisional IRA. By September 1976 the FLNC were attempting assassinations of high-ranking French military officials. In separate incidents in the town of Corte
Corte
Corte is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica. It is the fourth-largest commune in Corsica .-Administration:Corte is a subprefecture of the Haute-Corse department.-History:...
, a General narrowly missed assassination when his car was riddled with bullets; his driver lost an ear in the attack. Meanwhile the home of another senior officer in the town was targeted in a bomb attack.
The beginning of 1977 saw little FLNC activity. In April there were a number of attacks on premises associated with Corsican nationalists and the FLNC. The attacks were claimed by a new group calling itself FRANCIA (Front d'Action Nouvelle Contre l'Indépendance et l'Autonomie). Although other anti-autonomist groups existed in Corsica, FRANCIA appeared to be the only group capable of carrying out attacks. On 14 May the group destroyed the printing presses of Arritti (A Corsican nationalist publication) in a bomb attack. The FLNC responded to the attacks by carrying out a daring raid on Fort-Lacroix, near Bastia on 24 May and at the beginning of June they destroyed a large section of Bastia railway station in a bomb attack; a month later the FLNC launched an overnight bomb offensive hitting 27 pro-French targets followed by the bombing of the television relay station at Serra di Pigno
Barbaggio
Barbaggio is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica. It is known for its wine, its scenery, and the prehistoric site of Strette.-Geography:...
.
The FLNC suffered a serious setback in May 1978 when 27 suspected members were arrested both in Corsica and France. The police stumbled upon an FLNC weapons-dump in the town of Cardo
Cardo
The cardo was a north-south oriented street in Roman cities, military camps, and coloniae. The cardo, an integral component of city planning, was lined with shops and vendors, and served as a hub of economic life. The main cardo was called cardo maximus.Most Roman cities also had a Decumanus...
during an investigation into an ordinary burglary. While at the scene the police noticed men nearby moving what looked like weapons. The incident resulted in over 300 people being questioned and over 60 detained by the authorities. Other suspects were picked up in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
and Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
s. In December 1978 the FLNC increased its attacks on police barracks – in one incident the gendarmerie at Borgo
Borgo, Haute-Corse
Borgo is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica.The Bastia-Poretta Airport is located in Borgo. It was the site of the 1768 Battle of Borgo during the French Conquest of Corsica when a French force was defeated by Corsican troops.-Population:-References:*...
was raked with heavy machine gun fire – resulting in a fear that the FLNC would now begin to concentrate its attacks on people as well as material targets. At this time the FLNC also began to demand that their prisoners be treated as political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s.
1980s – "A New Offensive"
In 1979 the number of FLNC attacks increased; in a two-month period from January to the beginning of March there were over 115 bomb attacks on the island. However, in July a number of their activists were captured and sentenced to long prison terms resulting in a lack of action or activity on the part of the FLNC. The Front announced it would now launch a "new offensive in the liberation struggle" and advised Corsicans who were members of the police or Army to leave the island. On 10 March, ten banks across Corsica were car-bombed by the FLNC. Then on 10 April three banks in Paris were also damaged in explosions and later the Paris Law Courts were devastated by a time-bomb which cost over 3 million francs worth of damage. The late 1970s and early 1980s marked a decisive change of FLNC policy, similar to the one employed by the IRA. The FLNC now decided to "Bring the Corsican problem to the French" by carrying out bomb attacks on the French mainland. On 6 May 1979 the FLNC managed to bomb 20 banks in Paris and on 30 May more banks were damaged by explosions. The beginning of June saw the FLNC switch back to activities on the island itself with twenty-five major explosions coupled with a carbomb attack on the Police Headquarters in Paris. On 14 May 1980 the FLNC bombed the Law Courts in Paris and also carried out a machine-gun attack on four Gendarmes who were guarding the Iranian embassy, wounding three.The 1980s also saw FLNC supporters becoming more visible in terms of protests and political activity. The FLNC continued to call for their prisoners to be given political status. Mass demonstrations in support of political status for Corsican prisoners were common and FLNC supporters were active in all protests which could be classified as "Corsican V French". In November 1980, 12 FLNC prisoners in Paris went on hunger-strike in a protest against the inequality of treatment for Corsican nationalist prisoners. This protest overlapped with that of six IRA hungerstrikers in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. The Corsican prisoners were force-fed for a number of weeks before they ended their strike. On 1 April 1981 the FLNC called a ceasefire for the duration of the Presidential Elections and following the victory of François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
, announced they would extend the ceasefire to "see how things develop".
On 18 September the FLNC announced the end of its ceasefire at a press conference held in the mountains of central Corsica. They condemned the autonomists for attempting to use the "usual useless channels" of the political system and opposed French "appeasement policies" before stating that the armed struggle would resume and that the FLNC would not lay down its arms.
On 19 August 1982 the FLNC launched its most spectacular night of violence with the so called "violente nuit bleue" during which 99 attacks were carried out against government targets.
In the mid-80s the organisation also stepped up its attacks against suspected drug dealers, killing four in the space of twelve months in 1986.
In 1988 a truce was agreed between the French and the FLNC. However, the ceasefire did not sit well with certain members of the organisation, resulting in a split within the movement.
1990s - Internal feuds and the assassination of Claude Érignac
The 1990s saw the FLNC organisation tear itself apart through a series of deadly internal feuds. Much of the reason for the splits and feuds was the political rivalries of the members within the organisation as well as personal disputes.1991 saw one of the first shootouts between the FLNC and military gendarmes when an FLNC commando managed to shoot its way out of an ambush and escape. 1991 also saw the FLNC carry out an attack against a refinery
Refinery
A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value.-Types of refineries:Different types of refineries are as follows:...
on the neighbouring island of Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
.
In December 1996 the FLNC began a Christmas offensive across Corsica. In Figari
Figari
Figari is a commune in the Corse-du-Sud department of France on the island of Corsica.-Geography:The village of Figari is to the southeast of Sartène, to the southwest of Porto-Vecchio and to the north of Bonifacio. The commune comes from an ancient parish. It includes the center of a large...
the FLNC launched a machine-gun attack on a military barracks while in Zicavo
Zicavo
Zicavo is a commune in the Corse-du-Sud department of France on the island of Corsica.-Population:-References:*...
a grenade attack was carried out on the Police Station.
In 1997 the FLNC Canal-Habituel faction called a ceasefire which resulted in the Canal Historique faction attempting to take control of the organisation and launch a fresh offensive. In 1998 FLNC attacks soared with policemen and mayors among the dead. The offensive culminated in the assassination of Claude Érignac
Claude Erignac
Claude Érignac was a former French prefect on the island of Corsica.Érignac was born in Mende, Lozère. In 1996 he went to Ajaccio in Corsica to take office as the Prefect of Corse-du-Sud. He was assassinated at 9:15 p.m. on 6 February 1998. Corsican nationalist militant Yvan Colonna was suspected...
in Ajaccio. Érignac was the French Prefect
Prefect
Prefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....
for Corsica and the top representative of the French Republic on the island. The attack was highly publicized and criticized so strongly that the FLNC were forced to deny that they were responsible. Since 1999, splits, internal feuding, ceasefires and breaches of ceasefires have characterized the FLNC.
2000s – "Reunification of the Internal Factions"
The FLNC has continued its attacks into the twenty-first century, although at a much reduced tempo when compared with the late 70s. Many FLNC bombs failed to detonate or attacks had to be aborted. Nevertheless the FLNC did manage to carry out a number of successful attacks including the 2002 bombing of a military barracks in LumioLumio
Lumio is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica.-Population:-References:*...
which injured a number of gendarmes, bomb attacks against a number of hotels in Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
in 2004 and rocket attacks against a number of barracks in 2007.
In 2009 it carried out a car bomb attack against a barracks in Vescovato
Vescovato, Haute-Corse
Vescovato is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica.Its name derives from the Italian term for "bishopric" -Population:-Personalities:*French footballer Charles Orlanducci, born in Vescovato in 1951....
. The FLNC also claimed that all the different factions had reunified. During the early 2000s the FLNC had been divided into the FLNC-UC, the FLNC-1976, and the FLNC-October 22.